Alaska summer 2004


Dispatch 3 - This week held many adventures including a trip to the emergency room and the eagerly awaited glaciers. Ice Blue takes on a whole new meaning.


Greetings from the crew of the Ohana Kai,
Whew, as with life this trip just seems to be going faster and faster each day. Here is a look at the places and mileage we have racked up this last week or so.
Date Location Mileage
7/5 Mon Ketchikan – Santa Anna Inlet 58
7/6 Tue Santa Anna Inlet – Petersburg 70
7/7 Mon Petersburg for the day
7/8 Tue Petersburg – Portage Bay 41
7/9 Wed Portage Bay – Pybus Cove 34
7/10 Thu Pybus Cove – Sandborn Canal 32
7/11 Fri Sandborn Canal – Holkham Bay 35
7/12 Sat Holkham Bay – Sawyer Glaciers 42 round trip
7/13 Sun Holkham Bay – Admiralty Cove
Highlights:
Ketchikan to Santa Anna Inlet - We left Ketchikan in the worst weather we had seen yet. Really blustery and very rainy and wet. This meant that I got to wear my foul weather gear for the first time for real, not just around the store like I owned the place. Leaving out of the harbor you have to dodge the cruise ships and float planes. Fun to have the planes buzz your head before they land behind you. We motored through some rough seas and by afternoon it broke but left some nice wind behind for a great sail. My Dad spotted a nice pod of Orcas feeding just outside of Union Bay. We anchored in Santa Anna Inlet. Bruce trolled with no luck for salmon but we can officially say we have fished in Alaska. We hike up a nice stream to a completely undisturbed lake. Another night with a ton of rain.

Next day was another big march up to Petersburg. We dodged and weaved our way up Wrangell Narrows. It is a shallow straight, lined with green and red barrels that makes you feel a bit like you are in a slalom race. Luckily we didn’t have and oncoming traffic to maneuver around. Petersburg Harbor to the east is beautiful tall hills blanketed in evergreen trees, just gorgeous. The town itself is extremely small as we soon found out. After we refueled, docked, met a few of our neighboring boat from Alaska, WA and Chicago?!, Bruce decided to change a line that was holding up our radar reflector (it enables other ships to see us on their radar). Long story short, it fell, sliced open his left palm just below his thumb and we quickly realized he needed stitches. Usually you hear these stories and they end up more like nightmares. The hospitals are miles away, enormous cab fares, to sit in ER’s all night long to get a few stitches. We were tremendously blessed. We found the hospital 2 blocks away. We walked in, the nurse called the DR. at home. (We did have to wait for him to finish his salad for dinner). In 15 mins, he arrived, gave Bruce 5 stitches and we were home by 8pm. Thank goodness for small towns and pleasant people. We spent the next day doing, yes you guessed it, showers, laundry, groceries. All the stores you need, including hardware and pharmacy, are within two blocks of each other and one block of the harbor. We did find the best chocolate milkshakes of the trip.

Portage Bay was the next stop of the trip. We stopped by Thomas inlet on the way and saw our first glacier, Baird glacier and a small iceberg. Very exciting. Portage Bay looks like a resourvior and was the least pretty of our stops so far. Huge horse flys and see-ums. The heat was a welcomed change though. The boys trolled with Bruce briefly with no luck and explored some mud flats.
We left Portage in a thick fog and headed to Pybus Cove. My parents favorite spot. In the early morning fog we found ourselves trudging along by radar and trying to avoiding fishing vessels only to get called by one on the radio.With less than ¼ mile visibility we finally saw him heading right for us just off the right (starboard) side as we dodge him. Thank goodness for radar. These next few anchorages surround Fredrick Sound, which the books describe as the spot to see wildlife and sea life. We were not disappointed. Surrounded by a pod of Humpback whales, we slowed and swam with them for a long time. They are remarkable. It was so quiet and peaceful in the fog that you could hear every blow and breath they took. Pybus Bay has its own little resort there and a nice stream where the salmon are beginning to return to spawn a little early this year. That means fishy fishy every where and not a one to catch. They leap around you but are completely uninterested in anything you might have to offer. Tristan did fish from the shore ever so patiently and diligently and was rewarded with a big bull gill all by himself. We watched a family of about 5 brown bears frolic and play. Pybus Bay itself is gorgeous and looks like an alpine basin.

Sandborn Canal was our next destination and on the way salmon and whales o’plenty. Bruce and my father decided to troll slowly the whole way and thanks to Tristan they caught 2. Perched on top his new favorite seat, the boom, Tristan spotted both poles at different times wiggling away. One king and one coho, both within limit. It was also a treat to hear him yell, “Whale off the port bow!”. Low and behold there was. We got to follow along and watch an assortment of humpback whales feed and play all around us in the northern edge of Fredricks Sound. The most exciting point had to be when we knew we had one that dove (or sounded) just ahead of us and we would be coming up upon it soon. We waited and couldn’t find where it was going to resurface only to look down and see all of its bubbles and it gliding directly under the boat. Uneasy and exciting all in one. They are powerful creatures.
We anchored that evening in a long narrow channel called Sandborn Canal, very sheltered. Another location where the salmon are leaping everywhere and spawning early. Bruce and Tristan trolled again with no luck. We let down our crab pot with no luck as well. I jigged for awhile right off the boat and landed 3 small halibut. Bruce and I took the dinghy as far up the river as we could stand. It just remains shallow and smooth forever. Those salmon are going to have the easiest return ever. All they have to do is ride with the tide.

Holkham Bay is at the entrance to the Tracy Arm Fjords and the Sawyer Glaciers. It was the drive to there where you really begin to see icebergs floating out in the ocean. The next day we made the 21 mile voyage up the fjord to see the glaciers. I really don’t have the words to do them justice. The blue of the ice and seafoam green of the waters are so distinct. Knowing that 2/3rds of the berg is below the surface gives you a whole new perspective to them. We did our best to dodge them and then had to pull over for a gigantic cruise ship to pass us by. Each and every iceberg had yet another unique size, shape and design, as you will get to see by the 90+ photos we took. Just a few. Apparently, if you’ve seen one you haven’t seen them all.

The glaciers themselves were majestic. The southern one is more active than the north, but due to that you cannot get as close and have to always be on watch. They are constantly moving, ever so slowly, but it doesn’t take long to find yourself surrounded. You can hear a loud sound like a clap of thunder before pieces shear off and fall into the water (called calving). The northern one is much taller but much less active. We spent 2 hours just staring at these beasts. The boys, with imaginations in tow, used their nets to scoop up any small remnant of iceberg they could carry. Believe it or not they spent the day barefoot and playing ice soccer, ice bowling, ice bacci ball in the deck. We did eat our fair share of icebergs as well.

We spent the night back in or original anchorage in the bay and today are heading up Stephens pass to anchor in Admiralty Cove on the northern tip of Admiralty Island. Tomorrow we will head up to Auke Bay where we will take a few days to journey overland to Juneau and do the usual, cleaning and restocking. Bruce’s parents will be joining us there and my parents will be heading on. Amazing how fast this can go. We hope these letters find you well and that they are a source of some entertainment. We miss you much and can’t wait to update you with another crazy tale.
All our love, Aloha, the crew of the Ohana Kai.

PS : A quick reminder, we love to get email back from all of you and stay connected, it is really helpful to us though if when you email you do not hit the reply or forward button and re-send the our messages back. Unfortunately it is just to much for the system to take and will boot us off, making it difficult to send or receive mail. Thanks so much. Can’t wait to hear from you. ~~~/)~~~

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